Thoughts on Unitarian Universalism

Anyone here ever run into a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church before? It's a nondogmatic nondoctrinal church that is atheist friendly. It does not push any notion of gods or damnation. It simply put does not tell it's members, or anyone else, what to believe. Instead its services focus on using love, compassion, and reason to put issues before it's members. It welcomes all although those looking for dogma doctrine and hellfire will probably not find anything to their liking.

It's a place for people more interested in community than condemnation. Each UU Church tends to have its own flavor. My church for example trends towards atheist/humanist. The minister as well as most members are various stripes of atheists.

So the question is does the words church, religion, or sermon carry too much stigma for you or is this sort of thing interesting to some, or is it just useless nonsense?

I've attended UU congregations myself (was a member of one in Urbana, IL, for a couple of years when I lived in nearby Charleston) and I've found them to be as accepting as the community I'm currently a member of, the Ethical Society of St. Louis (which is part of the Ethical Culture/Ethical Humanist movement).

I can understand where you're coming from re: "church", though. I personally identify more with the Humanist/Atheist POV but having a UU church where there's no Ethical Society nearby certainly does fill a need, IMHO. I definitely think having community is very important.

The only UU Church I have ever been in (once, back when I was a Wiccan) was on the east side of Jacksonville, Fla.

If you can trust Wikipedia's article on Unitarian-Universalism, the church consists roughly of 20% Christians. They ostensibly welcome such people as atheists and Wiccans (through their pagan outreach programme CUUPS), but the point of getting you in the door is the same as any other church.

Unitarians from New England are descended from the Congregational Church (the Puritans). Unitarians from NE rejected the literal reading of the Bible and the "elect" who would get into heaven dogma of the Puritans. The remainder after the split became the United Church of Christ, a well-known all inclusive group.

Their services are primarily structured around Protestant church services.

Christian Universalists started way back in 1793 and taught a universal salvation by Christ.

They are much like an airy-fairy New Age religion in many respects, but still have a creed which is a "non-creed," their Seven Principles.

In 2004 they specifically went for proselytisation, asking for "elevator speeches" (pitches that could be made for the UU Church in the course of an elevator ride to "educate" others about the UU Church). The idea is no different than door-knocking Evangelicals: they are inserting their beliefs into your space.

The beliefs in spirituality, holding that no particular religion has a lock on truth (except them of course, as that statement is a direct challenge to the claim of most religions), and the seven principles identify the UU Church as not rational. They are no more rational than any other gnostic religious belief (they know and believe that other religions do not have a lock on truth). The idea of spirituality and the "connexion of life" is not rational.

The Seven Principles, while containing admirable goals, are still religious in nature and not secular:

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today the UU church still holds to the idea of finding "truth" and "spirituality," thus they are no more rational than any other church, other than not being dogmatic by not having a particular creed.

A few months ago I caught Ben Harper's first solo appearance in his career at one of my favorite venues - Wolftrap. He's one of my favorite musicians, though some of his lyrics are a bit spiritual, which made me curious about his level of religiosity. He is known for being concerned about getting the best possible sound out of his instruments, recordings and live events. Wolftrap is an amazing amphitheatre, and he was shocked at the perfect acoustics of the venue, having never had even heard of the place before that night. He made the statement that the place had the acoustics of a church ... and then he apologized for insulting the venue with the "church" reference, to a loud applause from the crowd. If you are godless or spiritual, the word "church" typically doesn't carry a positive connotation. It belongs in the realm of religion.

There's a pretty good UU fellowship here in Greenville, SC. As you might expect in such a location, it tends toward a Christian-like flavor just by demographic, but at least it's a venue for local freethinkers who crave a church-ish structure. I'm an old hermit with no particular need for active social connections, and am so not a member, though Dear Li'l Sis (who leads the Rainbow Committee) and her son are. I do some pro-bono architectural work for them because I think that they're good people and deserve it. I'll occasionally go to their events, largely because they usually feature free beer & wine.

I was once asked to guest host one of their discussion groups (called covenant circles) and direct the topic. I chose superstition, and it was a good & lively conversation. We freely gave & took offense, and mostly agreed that we'd all learned something from one another. That's no small thing in a local culture very much imbued with strict biblical literalist dogma! Doing something similar in a Southern Baptist congregation probably wouldn't result in actual burning at the stake, but would undoubtedly bring social shunning. Those who have not grown up under the thumb of something like the KKK or Taliban might misunderestimate :) the gravity of being shunned by the Tribe, which is close to a social death sentence. Unis refuse to do that on general principal, and for that I respect them.

I don't like what seems to be the UU assumption of doctrinal relativism -- I think that some ideas are clearly more valid than others. Perhaps their take is that such assumptions are sort of an epistemological tax necessary for a functioning society. As I said, I'm a hermit who doesn't really get that point.

I used to tease my wife that UU churches were for atheists who haven’t figured out that it’s okay to sleep in on Sundays. We are both atheists. However, over the course of time I have found, as many of you may have, that my need for community or fellowship, if you prefer, with like hearted (are UU’s really like-minded? No two UU’s that I have ever met seem to think alike) people is real. Human beings organize ourselves socially and we need companionship.
My congregation is largely Atheists, Humanist with a sprinkling of Buddhism. It suits my way of thinking and has allowed me to meet and befriend many delightful people. I’ve learned that just because I’m a non-theist it doesn’t eliminate my desire to celebrate life with a “spiritual” (I hate this word- so antihuman) zeal and mark the landmarks of life – birth, death, marriage and such. I suppose this makes me more of a religious humanist than a plan secular one.
I thrive when I’m immersed in community. I belong to a local humanist organization, but like so many atheist and humanist groups the meetings are, at best, monthly. My UU congregation gives me ample opportunities to fulfill my need for purposeful companionship.

Being from Nebraska too, I can tell you that isn't that big of an exaggeration depending on where in the state you are.... I have driven on highways in the panhandle and not passed another car for 2 hours.

I used to go for a few years before making a strong commitment to Atheism (I was still finding my path) and then I stopped going. The UU place I was going was mostly Humanist and help me find my path to Atheism. I evolved from it. (Faded away like Sentient did)